Sir Galahad then took the pieces and set them together, and the sword seemed as if it had just been forged and never broken. When they recovered from their astonishment they gave the sword to Sir Bors, for he was a good knight and a worthy man.
A little before evening a strange thing happened; the sword became wondrously heated so that no one could handle it, and a voice was heard which said, “They that ought not to sit at the table of our Lord arise, for now shall true knights be fed.”
So all went out save King Pelleas and his son and a maid who was his niece, and the three knights; and a table of silver was before them with the holy vessel, covered with a cloth of silk.
With that they saw nine knights all armed come in at the hall door, who took off their armor and said to Sir Galahad, “Sir, we have ridden hard to be with you at this table.”
“You are welcome,” said he, “but whence come you?”
Three of them said they were from Gaul, three from Ireland, and three from Denmark.
Upon that a voice said, “Let those among you who are not in quest of the Holy Grail depart.” So King Pelleas and his son and niece departed.
As the knights sat waiting, it seemed to them that there appeared a man from heaven, before the table on which the Holy Grail was, and they saw letters in his forehead which said:
“This is Joseph, the first bishop of Christendom, whom our Lord rescued in the city of Sarras.”
With him were angels who bore a spear which bled marvelously.
Then the knights wondered, for Joseph had died more than three hundred years before.
“Oh, knights,” said he, “wonder not, for at one time I was an earthly man. Now shall ye have such food as never knights tasted.”
When he had said this, he and the angels vanished, and they sat there in great dread. Then they looked and saw, as it were, another man enter who said:
“My knights and my servants who are come out of this earthly life, ye shall now see a part of my secrets and my hidden things.” Then he took the holy vessel and proffered it to Sir Galahad, who kneeled down and partook; and so after him all the knights.
“Galahad,” said he, “dost thou know what I hold in my hands?”
“Nay,” said Sir Galahad, “unless ye tell me.”
“This,” said he, “is the holy vessel in which I ate the Last Supper, but thou hast not seen it openly as thou shalt see it in the city of Sarras; therefore, thou must go hence, and bear this vessel with thee. This night it shall depart from the realm of Britain to be seen no more, for it is not honored as it ought to be by the people of this land, who are turned to evil living. Therefore, go to-morrow down to the sea where you shall find a ship ready; and with you take the sword with the strange belt, and Sir Bors and Sir Percival. Also I will that ye take the blood of the spear and anoint the maimed king, and he shall have his health.”